Ted and Jos Kelly

Ted and Jos Kelly from Co. Sligo are at the cutting edge of new Irish traditional music.

JPTrio & Niamh Farrell

Brothers from county Sligo, Ted and Jos come from a musical family, with all children in the family accomplished musicians. Their music is influenced by a number of genres of music, but very important among them is the traditional music of county Sligo. They have released two EPs, and their career is blossoming.

Ted plays the tenor banjo, tenor guitar and mandolin. He has an innovative style of banjo playing, and is regarded as one of the best tenor banjo players in Ireland today. Ted tutors the banjo and holds a first class honours degree from Dublin Institute of Technology Conservatory of music and drama. Ted is currently pursuing a career as a performer. Jos plays the button accordion and keyboard and is developing an excellent reputation on the Irish music scene. Artists that Jos has played with include Kenny Werner, Bobby McFerrin and Beoga. He led Teaspach to glory in the Siansa Gael Linn competition in 2012.

The Kelly brothers have been described as being on the cutting edge of new Irish trad. Ted and Jos are founding members of the band JPTrio. Described as a celtic roots funk band, the group’s music has been said to combine world and jazz rhythms with traditional Irish tunes. Paddy Hazleton, the third band member, is a native of Uganda and the group combine the rhythms of Uganda with the Sligo music tradition. Niamh Farrell, described as one of the great new voices of Irish singing, also joins the band on vocals. JPTrio’s debut performance was at the Sligo Live festival in 2010 and since then JPTrio has gone from strength to strength. The band has performed at festivals such as the Electric Picnic and the Stonehaven Folk Festival, and on radio and TV, such as on the Saturday Night Show and the Pat Kenny radio show. In 2011 they were voted a best newcomer band at Glasgow’s Celtic Connections. The band has performed this year in Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the US.
Ted and Jos are also founding members of Moxie, a collaboration between five young Irish musicians. The other band members are Cillian Doheny, Darren Roche and Paddy Hazelton. The music innovatively combines the rhythms and harmonies of traditional Irish, with jazz, rock, bluegrass and world music. Kevin Crawford of Lunasa has described their music as “melodically and rhythmically addictive, surprises lurk around every corner”. Moxie also has a range of performances under its belt such as at the All Ireland Fleadh in 2012 and the Spirit of Folk Festival in 2013 where Moxie won the Spirit of Folk Band Award.